A Regressed Villain: Heroines, Villainesses and Me?

Croceatech, owned by Marquess Avendial of the prestigious Croceaus family, is a top-tier IT company known for its cutting-edge advancements in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and cloud infrastructure.

With its headquarters in the iconic Croceatech Tower in City A, the company serves an elite clientele, including government bodies, global corporations, and military operations.

Its flagship products, such as Sentient AI for strategic decision-making and Cloud Sentinel for secure data management, have revolutionized the industry.

Despite its secretive operations, Croceatech is recognized as a leader in innovation, shaping the future of technology with unparalleled expertise.

The company is known for its approach to hiring the best individuals—experts in their technical fields—at high salaries, given that there is no deficiency of funds.

Croceatech is one of the leading IT companies in the entire Arinphiam Empire, as it has cloud services all over the world due to being a secure and trusted source for data storage.

Today, after receiving the news to greet and meet the owner of the company, the CEO left his meeting in the middle, canceling all the interviews or deals, and arrived directly at the airport, but was hardly able to have any conversation with the Marquess, given that the most they could do was just welcome him.

He was promoted for his dedication and hard work within the company. His efforts on the facial recognition system made a significant impact in the market, combining advanced AI with his own development.

This innovative approach earned him recognition from the Marquess himself, leading to his ascent to the CEO position.

Today, as they met, he aimed to explain the enhanced, more secure version they've developed at Croceatech to ensure the highest level of security for their clients and add more layers to stop any single breach of data stored in cloud storage from all over the world.

After all, globally, their cloud service, Cloud Sentinel, dominates with a staggering 43% market share around the whole planet. This is particularly impressive given that thousands of government organizations across various countries rely on it.

To grasp the significance of this number, consider that if Cloud Sentinel were to experience a momentary shutdown, the repercussions would be immediate and far-reaching: flights, hotel bookings, and a myriad of logistics would come to a complete halt, illustrating just how integral their cloud services are to global operations.

"Start auctioning all valuable data stored in cloud storage on the dark web and redirect the funds received to the Kingdom of Thaloris," Avendial directly commanded, looking towards the lowered head of the CEO of the IT sector, knowing well that his words had already shocked both of the individuals present inside the room.

'!?!?'

"S-sir?!" the man's eyes snapped up as he trembled looking towards Avendial. He felt as if he had heard him wrong, but his ears were clearly focused. The moment he heard something so grave, it was as if the ground had slipped beneath his feet.

For a company that was trusted by so many individuals and treated as a global leader, this was an order which was in itself so disastrous.

'Huh? This is really something worth hearing,' Aecilia on the other hand, felt all her sleep vanish. Her eyes kept looking towards Avendial noticing his impassive and determined gaze, she felt as if she shouldn't have heard this order.

But still, knowing he let her stay here, she understood it wasn't of much worth. But selling data to get money, this was incredibly unbelievable, even for her.

Ironically, the Sertsul family was in this same business, where they sold information, yet Aecilia found Avendial's gesture unpredictable.

"Sir? You jest, right?" The man remained standing, sweat beads trickling down his face, which had lost its color. He felt the weight of all his years of hard work crumbling in a single day.

Deep down, he understood that this was a serious directive, yet he wished his mind could reject the reality that a prominent businessman, known for his remarkable skills and steadfast dedication, would even contemplate suggesting such a thing.

"No, I would like you to take a very gradual approach, ensuring that others remain unaware and continue transferring the funds gathered from sales to the account I will provide details for.

Do you understand?" Avendial once again clarified himself, while his fingers tapped on the desk, seeing the tremble of the man's body whose eyes and pale face gave away that expression which Avendial had seen only in those who were stuck between loyalty and their principles.

"I-I..." The man was not thinking straight. He felt confused as if this was the same person who was considered the idol for most of the businessmen, and to whom he had served with loyalty for more than a decade. Yet here he was telling him to do something this unethical.

"Listen well, Mr. Jimphue, just do what I say or else," Avendial said. He wasn't in the mood or had time considering he had given a total of three weeks to himself in this academy just to secure a single woman, making him look towards Aecilia and inquire, "I would like to give a contract to the Sertsul family to keep an eye on his family and him."

'?!'

"N-no," the man felt his heart sinking, as he understood this was no way out. Knowing well that right now he was just getting a threat related to his family, where if he didn't follow loyalty, keeping his principles before, his family would be the first to suffer.

In high society, it was common knowledge that the assassin guild associated with the Sertsul family existed, even though they didn't rank among the top three in the Arinphiam Empire.

Nevertheless, their reputation for expertise in poison arts was well-established, primarily due to their recruitment of female operatives who could seamlessly blend in and carry poisons concealed in their nails or beauty makeup.

'Is that why he chose this man at that time?' Aecilia folded her hands, rested her head back, remembering the time when there was a small clash between two employees inside Croceatech for the seat of CEO.

Both of the employees were fit and suitable, and according to information from the Sertsul family, they considered one of them to be more fitting, but for some reason, the Marquess chose the other weaker one.

Even after doing several background checks, there was nothing which could prove the potential of this present CEO could be found and known on what basis he was chosen against that competitive employee.

But now, inside this room, hearing those words, she understood the reason he chose this particular CEO was because he was a family man unlike the previous one.

'How shrewd,' Aecilia observed the breaking expression of the man as he was in horror hearing something that was making his heart beat rapidly while his mind filled with only emotion to protect his family. Giving a boost to all this event, Aecilia slightly leaned, looking towards Avendial, and with a soft voice said, "He has two daughters, ages 15 and 17, and one son who is around 9 years.

If the Marquess wants, I can—"

"N-no, please, I would do as you say, M-Marquess, I-I understand," the man instantly bowed at a ninety-degree angle before Aecilia could complete her statement, knowing well that nothing was more important to him than his family.

For the first time, feeling so helpless and crushed under a weight which couldn't be lifted, given that even though he had brought this company to profit, whatever it was now, in the end, he was simply an employee.

"Alright, go ahead and get everything ready, but remember, if anyone catches wind of this, you could end up losing your family in a tragic accident." Avendial showed not a bit of sympathy towards the man, as he had, even in the past life, already secured cards to keep all of his pawns in check.

Even though they held strong positions and could easily make political leaders move at their will, he was, in the end, the one who held the strings to their lives.